N. O. ACANTHACE/E. 
973 
Commonly used in Bombay as a garden fringe-plant. The 
leaves have a pleasant taste, says Triman. It is questionable 
if they are so ; for on chewing them I find them distinctly 
possessed of a disagreeable oily taste (K.R. Kirtikar). 
Uses : — The Malays employ it as a febrifuge (Motley, in 
Hooker's Journ. of Bot., 1855, vol. vii. p. 166). According to 
Horsfield ( Asiat . Journ., vol. vii. p. 266), emetic qualities are 
ascribed to it in Java. The leaves and tender shoots, which, 
when bruised, emit a strong but not unpleasant odour, are, 
according to Ainslie (Mat. Ind. vol., ii. p. 68), prescribed in 
decoction in chronic rheumatism. Its action is apparently that 
of a diaphoretic. Our knowledge of its virtues rests principally 
on native testimony (Pk. Ind.). 
An oil prepared from the leaves when applied locally is said 
to be useful in eczema, and an infusion of the leaves is given 
internally in cephalalgia, hemiplegia, and facial paralysis (Surg.- 
Major Houstan, in Watt’s Dictionary). 
The juice of the fresh leaves is dropped into the ear for ear- 
ache, and into the corresponding nostril on the side of the head 
affected with hemicrania (P. Kinsley, in Watt’s Dictionary). 
934. J . procumbens, Linn., h.f.b.i., iv. 539. Roxb. 
45. 
Vern. : — Ghati-pitp6pr&, pitpapada (Bomb.) 
Habitat South Western India, extending as far north as 
the South Konkan. 
Stems diffuse, slender, with many divaricate branches, rooting 
at lower nodes, furrowed, nearly glabrous, with a few long 
hairs below the nodes, or with spreading hair. Leaves •f-ljin., 
oval or ovate-oval, obtuse at both ends, entire or slightly crenate, 
softly hairy-pubescent on both sides ; elliptic or lanceolate, says 
C. B. Clarke. Flowers very small, in rather dense cylindric 
terminal spikes ; £-l|in. long. Bractlets linear, long, ciliale. 
Sepals linear-filiform, strongly ciliate, as long as bractlets, one 
shorter or absent. Lower lip of Corolla broader than long, 
lobes shallow, obtuse. Capsule ^in., with a short, solid base. 
Flowers pale, violet, pink, the lower lip spotted with darker pink. 
The flowers vary in size, being larger than the hill forms. 
